Online real-time accounting

Abstract

A method of real time accounting of an online user, comprising, in response to detecting that an accounting period of an online user has expired, transmitting an instant accounting request packet to a Network Access Server (NAS) with an accounting server, in response to receiving an accounting reset packet from the NAS and with the accounting server, performing an instant settlement for expenses of the user according to online usage information carried in the accounting reset packet, recording a result of the instant settlement in a bill of the accounting period that expired recently, restarting to perform accounting for the user from a next accounting period, and transmitting an accounting response packet to the NAS to cause the NAS to clear online usage information of the user and re-calculate the online usage of the user from the next accounting period.

1 . A method of real time accounting of an online user, comprising:
 in response to detecting that an accounting period of an online user has expired, an accounting server transmitting an instant accounting request packet to a Network Access Server (NAS);   in response to receiving an accounting reset packet from the accounting server:
 performing instant settlement for expenses of the user according to online usage information carried in the accounting reset packet, 
 recording a result of the instant settlement in a bill of the accounting period that expired recently, 
 restarting to perform accounting for the user from a next accounting period, and 
 transmitting an accounting response packet to the NAS to cause the NAS to clear online usage information of the user and re-calculate the online usage of the user from the next accounting period. 
   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 recording a log-off cause of the user as an Accounting Online Reset in accounting information corresponding to the accounting period that recently expired while recording the result of the instant settlement in the bill of the accounting period that expired recently;   in which restarting to perform accounting for the user from a next accounting period comprises:
 recording, in accounting information corresponding to the next accounting period, a log-on time of the user as a beginning time of the next accounting period, and 
 clearing the online usage information of the user in the accounting information corresponding to the next accounting period. 
   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 in response to detecting that the user logs off before the current accounting period expired, the accounting server recording in a bill of the current accounting period a result of settlement for expenses of the user from a beginning time of the current accounting period to the log-off time of the user.   
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 before transmitting the accounting reset packet to the accounting server, with the NAS
 determining whether the instant accounting request packet can be processed successfully, 
 transmitting an instant accounting acknowledgement (IA-ACK) packet to the accounting server when it is determined that the instant accounting request packet can be processed successfully, and 
 transmitting an instant accounting negative acknowledgement (IA-NAK) packet to the accounting server when it is determined that the instant accounting request packet cannot be processed successfully; and 
 before receiving the accounting reset packet, the accounting server: 
   waiting to receive the IA-ACK packet from the NAS,
 continuing to wait to receive the accounting reset packet when the IA-ACK packet is received, 
 stop waiting to receive the accounting reset packet when the IA-ACK packet is not received and 
 determining not to perform instant settlement for the expenses of the user when an IA-NAK packet is received. 
   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , in which, the instant accounting request packet carries a code, a session-identification attribute, a service-type attribute and an NAS-identification attribute; and the method further comprises:
 before transmitting the instant accounting request packet to the NAS with the accounting server:
 configuring the value of the code of the instant accounting request packet as a predefined first value code, 
 configuring the value of the session-identification attribute of the instant accounting request packet as a value of a session-identification attribute of the user, 
 configuring the value of the service-type attribute of the instant accounting request packet as a predefined attribute value, and 
   configuring the value of the NAS-identification attribute of the instant accounting request packet as the identification attribute value of the NAS; and   the NAS:
 pre-storing the value of the session-identification attribute of each online user, the NAS-identification attribute value of the NAS, and at least one attribute value of at least one service type supported by the NAS, and 
 determining a packet received is the instant accounting request packet when the value of the code in the received packet is the first code value; and 
   in which determining whether the instant accounting request packet can be processed successfully comprises:
 searching in the pre-stored value of the session-identification attribute of each online user for the value of the session-identification attribute carried in the instant accounting request packet, 
 determining that the instant accounting request packet can be processed successfully when there is a value of a session-identification attribute of a user identical with the value of the session-identification attribute carried in the instant accounting request packet, the value of the NAS-identification attribute carried in the instant accounting request packet is identical with the NAS-identification attribute value of the NAS ( 302 ), and the value of the service-type attribute carried in the instant accounting request packet is one of the at least one attribute value of the at least one service type supported by the NAS, and 
 otherwise, determining that the instant accounting request packet can not be processed successfully. 
   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein, the IA-ACK packet carries a code and a session-identification attribute, and the accounting reset packet carries a code, a session-identification attribute, and an Acct-Session-Type attribute,
 and the IA-NAK packet carries a code and a session-identification attribute;   and wherein the method further comprises:
 before transmitting the IA-ACK packet to the accounting server, the NAS:
 configuring the value of the code of the IA-ACK packet as a predefined second code value, and configuring the value of the session-identification attribute of the IA-ACK packet with the NAS as the value of the session-identification attribute carried in the received instant accounting request packet; before transmitting the accounting reset packet to the accounting server, the NAS: 
 configuring the value of the code of the accounting reset packet as the value of the code of the received instant accounting request packet, 
 configuring the value of the session-identification attribute of the accounting reset packet as the value of the session-identification attribute carried in the received instant accounting request packet, and 
 configuring the value of the Acct-Session-Type attribute as a predefined second attribute value; and 
 
 before transmitting the IA-NAK packet to the accounting server, the NAS:
 configuring the value of the code of the IA-NAK packet as a predefined third code value, and 
 configuring the value of the session-identification attribute of the IA-NAK packet as the value of the session-identification attribute carried in the received instant accounting request packet. 
 
   
     
     
         7 . A system of online real time accounting, comprising: an accounting server and a Network Access Server (NAS), wherein:
 the accounting server is to transmit an instant accounting request packet to the NAS in response to detecting that an accounting period of a online user has expired, to receive an accounting reset packet carrying online usage information of the user from the NAS, to perform instant settlement for expenses of the user according to the online usage information, to record a result of the instant settlement in a bill of the accounting period that expired recently, to restart performing accounting for the user from a next accounting period, and to transmit an accounting response packet to the NAS; and   the NAS is to transmit the account reset packet in response to receiving the instant accounting request packet, and in response to the accounting response packet, to clear online usage information of the user and re-calculate the online usage of the user from the next accounting period.   
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 7 , in which, while recording the result of the instant settlement in the bill of the accounting period that expired recently, the accounting server is further to record a log-off cause of the user as Accounting Online Reset in accounting information corresponding to the accounting period that recently expired, and during restarting to perform accounting for the user from a next accounting period, to record log-on time of the user as beginning time of the next accounting period in accounting information corresponding to the next accounting period and to clear the online usage information of the user in the accounting information corresponding to the next accounting period. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 7 , wherein, before transmitting the accounting reset packet to the accounting server, the NAS is further to determine whether the instant accounting request packet can be processed successfully, to transmit an instant accounting acknowledgement (IA-ACK) packet to the accounting server when it is determined that the instant accounting request packet can be processed successfully, and otherwise, to transmit an instant accounting negative acknowledgement (IA-NAK) packet to the accounting server; and
 before receiving the accounting reset packet, the accounting server is further to wait for receiving the IA-ACK packet from the NAS, to continue to wait for receiving the accounting reset packet when the IA-ACK packet is received, and   otherwise, to stop waiting for receiving the accounting reset packet and determine not to perform instant settlement for the expenses of the user when the IA-NAK packet is received.   
     
     
         10 . An accounting server, comprising: a detection module, a transceiver module and an accounting module, wherein:
 the detection module is to transmit an instruction to instruct the transceiver module to transmit an instant accounting request packet to a Network Access Server (NAS) in response to detecting that an accounting period of an online user has expired;   the transceiver module is to transmit the instant accounting request packet to the NAS in response to the instruction from the detection module, receive an accounting reset packet carrying online usage information of the user from the NAS, and transmit an instruction to instruct the accounting module to perform settlement;   the accounting module is to perform instant settlement for expenses of the user according to the online usage information carried in the accounting reset packet received by the transceiver module in response to the instruction from the transceiver module, record a result of the instant settlement in a bill of the accounting period that expired recently, and restart to perform accounting for the user from a next accounting period, and transmit an instruction to instruct the transceiver module to transmit an accounting response packet to the NAS; and   the transceiver module is further to transmit the accounting response packet to the NAS in response to the instruction from the accounting module to make the NAS clear online usage information of the user and re-calculate the online usage of the user from the next accounting period.   
     
     
         11 . The accounting server according to  claim 10 , wherein the transceiver module is further to transmit the instant accounting request packet again to the NAS when the transceiver module does not receive the accounting reset packet within a predetermined period after transmitting the instant accounting request packet to the NAS and the number of retransmission times of the instant accounting request packet does not reach a predetermined maximum number of retransmission times. 
     
     
         12 . The accounting server according to  claim 11 , wherein during recording the result of the instant settlement in the bill of the accounting period that expired recently, the accounting module is further to record a log-off cause of the user as Accounting Online Reset in accounting information corresponding to the accounting period that recently expired, and during restarting to perform accounting for the user from a next accounting period, the accounting module is further to record log-on time of the user as beginning time of the next accounting period in accounting information corresponding to the next accounting period and clear the online usage information of the user in the accounting information corresponding to the next accounting period. 
     
     
         13 . The accounting server according to  claim 10 , wherein before receiving the accounting reset packet, the transceiver module is further to wait to receive from the NAS an instant accounting acknowledgement (IA-ACK) packet or an instant accounting negative acknowledgement (IA-NAK) packet,
 to continue to wait to receive the accounting reset packet when the IA-ACK packet is received, and   to stop waiting to receive the accounting reset packet when the IA-NAK packet is received when the IA-ACK packet is not received.   
     
     
         14 . A Network Access Server (NAS) ( 302 ), comprising: a transceiver module ( 501 ) and a calculation module ( 502 ), in which:
 the transceiver module ( 501 ), when receiving an instant accounting request packet from an accounting server ( 301 ):
 retrieves online usage information of an accounting period that expired recently for an online user requested by the instant accounting request packet, 
 transmits an account reset packet carrying the online usage information in response to receiving the instant accounting request packet, and 
 transmits an instruction to instruct the calculation module ( 502 ) to re-calculate online usage of the user; and 
   in which the calculation module ( 502 ):
 calculates online usage of each user in a network, 
 records online usage information for each user, and 
 clears online usage information of the user and re-calculate the online usage of the user from the next accounting period in response to receiving the instruction from the transceiver module ( 501 ). 
   
     
     
         15 . The NAS ( 302 ) according to  claim 14 , in which the transceiver module ( 501 ), before transmitting the accounting reset packet to the accounting server ( 301 ), further:
 determines whether the instant accounting request packet can be processed successfully,   transmits an instant accounting acknowledgement (IA-ACK) packet to the accounting server ( 301 ) when it is determined that the instant accounting request packet can be processed successfully, and   transmits an instant accounting negative acknowledgement (IA-NAK) packet to the accounting server ( 301 ) when it is determined that the instant accounting request packet cannot be processed successfully.